Naver and Big Hit join K-pop platforms-JoongAng Ilbo

Naver and Big Hit Entertainment will unveil a new enter platform by combining their fan platforms’V Live’ and’Weverse’. Bang Si-hyuk, Chairman of Big Hit Entertainment (center) and BTS. [중앙포토]

Naver and Big Hit Entertainment join forces to create a’global entertainment app’ against YouTube. When Naver’s overseas business capabilities, information technology (IT) infrastructure, and Big Hit’s entertainment content meet, it is expected to generate synergy effects in the global market.

On the afternoon of the 27th, Naver announced that “in cooperation with Big Hit, we will create a new global fan community platform that integrates’V Live’ (Naver) and’Weverse’ (Big Hit).” To this end, Naver announced that it will invest a 49% stake (worth 410 billion won) in BNX, a subsidiary of Big Hit, which operates’Weverse’.

VLive and Weverse are video-based services and applications familiar to K-pop fans around the world. VLive, launched by Naver in 2015, surpassed 100 million users last month and currently has over 30 million unique users per month. Overseas recognition is high as the percentage of overseas users, mainly in the US, Indonesia and Japan, reaches 90%. The percentage of young users under the age of 24 exceeds 84%, making it a filial product that is as reliable as a webtoon for Naver. Naver sells paid video content through’VLive Plus’, and the number of related products has increased by 5 times and transaction amount by 25 times since Corona 19.

Naver’s V Live. [사진 네이버]

Launched in 2019, Weverse is a fan platform where singers from Big Hit such as NU’EST, Seventeen, and Girlfriend, as well as BTS, and singers such as CL and Sunmi, are active. Big Hit suffered a big hit in offline sales due to Corona 19 last year, but made 112.7 billion won in the first half of last year from sales related to Weverse and Weverse shops. It is 38% of the total sales of Big Hit.

In fact, Naver and Big Hit have been competing for the K-pop fan market. Similar business strategies have been pursued in that more artists are recruited to create various contents. However, instead of competing as a fan platform in the domestic market, the two companies chose a strategy to combine the infrastructures of both companies to reach the global market. Naver CEO Han Seong-suk emphasized on the day, “We will focus on creating a unique player in the global entertainment market by combining K-content and K-technology with proven competitiveness rather than competition between domestic platforms.”

Naver and Big Hit are planning to introduce a new platform by combining the platforms of both companies. A Naver official said, “With the plan to carry out the platform integration work for one year, CIC CEO Kim Joo-gwan, who leads the VLive business at Naver, will work as the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of BNX and oversee the new platform technology.”

Reporter Ha Sun-young [email protected]